Thank you for Coming Along for the Journey!
Happiness and Joy To Everyone
(and a gift of three of my favorite poems,
for inspiration and uplift in the coming year)
I received a note recently from a longtime reader in Paris who said, “I love all the features on THE STYLE SALONISTE written by you and your team. They are always so inspiring.”
Lovely. But the phrase, ‘you and your team’ was such a surprise.
I don’t have a team of writers. THE STYLE SALONISTE ‘team’ consists of Brian Dittmar, the wonderful and talented art director, and me! I write every word. A team of two.
I plan and write every feature, and I research and select all images. I’m the fact-checker, proof-reader, copyeditor and headline writer and editor. Triumphs, a few, are my pleasure. Errors, all of them — mine alone.
Brian Dittmar, who, like me, is based in San Francisco, is responsible for the elegant and polished art direction.
I don’t have a team of writers. THE STYLE SALONISTE ‘team’ consists of Brian Dittmar, the wonderful and talented art director, and me! I write every word. A team of two.
I plan and write every feature, and I research and select all images. I’m the fact-checker, proof-reader, copyeditor and headline writer and editor. Triumphs, a few, are my pleasure. Errors, all of them — mine alone.
Brian Dittmar, who, like me, is based in San Francisco, is responsible for the elegant and polished art direction.
The accomplished Brian designed the logo — which I requested should look ‘very Alexey Brodovitch, very Harper’s Bazaar sixties, very classic and modern and chic and unchanging’. Brian created the design. I love it.
We are, indeed, a team of two
Brian is a fine graphic designer and art director — and he is also (mostly) an interior designer with lots of adoring clients. See my feature on Brian’s room at this year’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase.
 |
| Brian Dittmar's room "Poetry in Time: A Horologist's Laboratory" at the 2010 San Francisco Decorator Showcase. |
I give warmest thanks and credit to Brian for his beautiful layouts and for the consistent clean-lined look and style for THE STYLE SALONISTE.
Brian, you are brilliant and it is such a great pleasure and honor to work with you every week. Fun, too. Thank you.
But it takes more than our team of two to create a lively and vivid and jumping and vibrant blog.
THE STYLE SALONISTE members and readers and visitors and discoverers from around the world are essential for this colorful picture. I love your feedback, your responses, your insight, your constancy and worldly humor. Divine friends, I appreciate every word.
I adore it when you write ‘thank you for taking me along for the ride’, or ‘thank you for introducing me to this designer’ or ‘you’ve inspired me to travel alone’ or ‘I felt as if I was with you on this trip’. It’s my great pleasure. Thank you so much.
We now have readers in more than fifty plus countries—at last count on the traffic tracker—and in every corner of the world. Every day and every hour returning visitors arrive from Paris, Moscow, Santiago, Auckland, Houston, Dallas (I love my Texas readers), and all over California (so very happy), and the East Coast (just great) and Southern States (love you), plus Melbourne, Miami, Hong Kong, Brussels, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver (so happy I am ‘big’ in Canada), and Phuket, Delhi, Jaipur, Sydney, Stockholm, Athens, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, and Warsaw, St Petersburg, Dublin, Cracow, Belgrade, and Tokyo and Amsterdam and beyond, how fabulous. I am so honored and thrilled. Returning visitors (love) and first time visitors, thank you!
I’ve also made lots of great friends through THE STYLE SALONISTE, and women and men around the world I hope to meet one day.
I hear from longtime friends like best-selling author, Carol Troy, who is now a popular photographer. She loved the photography of Guy Hervais.
Favorite bloggers (who inspire me endlessly) drop in, much appreciated.
The salon I dreamed of — a constant dialogue with readers — is vibrant and witty and heartfelt. Readers’ comments are the oxygen that pumps and propels each week.
I recently received the following message from Annette English, a new friend in Australia: Annette was inspired by my features on Jaipur and India, where I travel several times a year:
‘Hi Diane,
You are a gem!!
Your advice was so helpful for my India trip that after several weeks of going back and forth, I was able to book my trip yesterday based on your feedback!! Thank you so much! It's always tremendously helpful to share with someone who has traveled territory that is unfamiliar. When I have a drink at the Umaid Bhawan Palace... I will think of you! I can see that you have a fondness for India and I'm truly excited about my trip.
‘Looking forward to your next posts Diane and once again, thank you. Have a wonderful and merry holiday season.
Wishing you a New Year filled with more love, joy and happiness than you dreamed possible!!
-Annette English
Annette is heading for Jodphur and Udaipur, inspired by my Rajasthan tips and feedback.
And there was the following message via email from a new friend who lives in Munich (via Athens and Berlin):
Diane-
I have been following your blog since you began it and am always so pleasantly surprised by how much I see and learn each time, and by how well written all your posts are.
It is clear that you are not just dashing them off between other more important obligations. It is a relief and pleasure whenever I see you in my Inbox. It is like getting a letter from a really good friend who values my intelligence and my opinion.
Thank you,
Margot von Muhlendahl
The pleasure is mine, Margot.
Now, as our team of two heads into 2011 (it seems that the recent lunar eclipse, so very beautiful and mysterious and lovely, did not signal the end of the world) — I have lots of surprises up my sleeve. I’ll take you to unexpected places, introduce you to new designers (I know you love that), and inspire you with ideas and fun.
I’d like to leave you with three of my favorite poems — for inspiration as we head into this glowing year, full of promise. Please print them out and keep them on your desk for inspiration at odd hours.
Traditional Gaelic poem:
ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE
I arise today
though the strength of heaven, light of sun
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.
A STRANGE FEATHER
by Hafiz
All
The craziness,
All the empty plots,
All the ghosts and fears,
All the grudges and sorrows have
Now
Passed.
I must have inhaled
A strange
Feather
That finally
Fell
Out.
A poem by Antonio Machado
LAST NIGHT AS I WAS SLEEPING
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
That I had a beehive
Here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
Were making white combs
And sweet honey
From my old failures.
CREDITS:
Primary photography here is by my dear friend Guy Hervais (www.guy-hervais.com), a brilliant photographer who lives in Provence. Guy travels the world—for clients as diverse at Taj Hotels and Vogue international editions and many French publications. I love the richness and sensuality of his images and the emotion he pumps into every pixel. Thank you, Guy.
The two photos of Brian Dittmar's room at the San Francisco Decorator Showcase are by the Bay Area's brilliant David Duncan Livingston (www.davidduncanlivingston.com).
See you next week!
Happy Holidays and Joy Forever,
DIANE
